Some hybrid wireless communication systems may include two or more wireless communication networks, for example, a cellular communication network and a broadband wireless network. In this exemplary wireless communication system, the cellular communication network may include a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and the wireless broadband system may include a network based on to IEEE 802.16e also know in the art as WiMAX.
In order to provide the hybrid wireless communication system to both cellular communication network and the broadband wireless networks, operators of the hybrid wireless communication system may allocate the hybrid wireless communication system resources (e.g. spectrum) to legacy user equipment (UE)'s of the cellular network to enhanced UEs of the broadband wireless network in parallel. The deployments for several standards, for example GSM and IEEE 802.16e, in parallel may be based on segregating the operator frequency band to non overlapping sub-bands. The non overlapping sub-band may be used exclusively by a single standard (e.g., GSM or IEEE 802.16e). The bandwidth allocated to be used by the cellular communication network and/or the wireless broadband network may be set according to the usage and the limitations of the cellular communication network and/or the wireless broadband network.
The basic time units of the different standards (e.g. IEEE 802.16e and GSM) are in many cases uncorrelated. This means that the cellular communication network and/or the wireless broadband network may have different procedures and control channels (e.g. synchronization) to access the network. The duplication of procedures and control channels may increase the complexity of the UE and networks.
It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements shown in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. Further, where considered appropriate, reference numerals may be repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements.